UN’s Guterres says common ground still elusive in Cyprus talks
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Cypriot President and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab,Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias talk during a meeting at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland April 29, 2021. [Stavros Ioannides/PIO/Handout via Reuters]
The United Nations said on Thursday there was not enough common ground to resume negotiations on war-divided Cyprus, after a three-day summit attempting to break a four-year impasse in peace negotiations.
Diplomats had been trying to make headway to end a decades-old conflict between rival Greek and Turkish Cypriots which destabilises the eastern Mediterranean and is a key source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey.
“The truth is that at the end of our efforts, we have not yet found enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference in Geneva.
He said the United Nations would make a fresh attempt in “probably two or three months”.
[Reuters]
